Plenty of ways to interact and keep yourself alive until you beat down with Torrential Gearhulk or Awoken Horror
. Use counterspells to keep the board clean and protect your own game plan.
Card Choices:
Creatures:
Thing in the Ice
- Goes great in a deck with mostly spells which is perfect for our deck. With our critical mass of spells we can easily flip it very quickly and smash face with a gigantic 7/8 Awoken Horror
.
Torrential Gearhulk - This card is exactly what the deck (and all control decks) wants to be doing. A gigantic 5/6 that can ambush an opponent's attacking creature and surprise them with replaying an instant out of nowhere. When Noyan Dar is out on the battlefield it can be a complete blowout, putting at least 8 points of power onto the battlefield at instant speed.
Planeswalkers:
Gideon, Ally of Zendikar - Everything has been said about Gideon. He's extremely powerful and can close out games in an instant. Some decks won't even be able to beat a Gideon played on turn 4.
Jace, Unraveler of Secrets - Jace is so underrated in my opinion. Giving us extra card draw and the ability to bounce creatures that we have a hard time dealing with (a flipped Westvale Abbey
and other fatties.) is great. Plus if we're ever able to get to his ultimate we essentially lock out the opponent with the counter on their first spell combined with our permission.
Dovin Baan - Testing Dovin in the deck right now, but he seems pretty good so far. The -3/-0 is nice to slow down aggresive decks, or shut down Sylvan Advocate and other annoying early/late game threats that our opponent could play. And while the ultimate doesn't win the game on the spot, it definitely keeps the opponent from executing their game plan effectively.
Non-Creature Spells:
Take Inventory - A very efficient way to move through our deck and make sure that our hand is always full of answers and make sure we can get to our finishers when we need them. Paying 2 mana for 4 cards is just ridiculous if you can get to it.
Void Shatter/Scatter to the Winds - 3-mana counterspell package. They essentially do the same thing but in certain situations one is better than the other. When Noyan Dar has started awakening lands already Scatter is superior, but with certain cards in standard right now it's very relevant that Void exiles the spell being countered.
Revolutionary Rebuff - Great early game counterspell. While it isn't Clash of Wills which could get better as the game went on, this can still be relevant if used correctly in the later game.
Glimmer of Genius - Simply the best card draw spell in standard right now. Our deck literally cares nothing about the energy but the advantage this card gives us is undeniable.
Anticipate - Another great way to filter our draws and make sure that we always have exactly what we need when we need it. Great in the early game and still worth the mana in the late game as well.
Declaration in Stone/Stasis Snare - Our removal package in the main deck. Both help us get rid of Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger and other huge, evasive or indestructable creatures we couldn't normally beat. The clue Declaration gives our opponent can be annoying but really doesn't matter much compared to the blowout it gives against an opponent who has over extended.
Unsubstantiate - While this isn't as good as,Remand because we don't get to cycle it, the tempo advantage this card can give can be invaluable when a spell resolving is the difference between winning and losing.
Planar Outburst Our mainboard answer to go wide creature decks. Plus the awaken can end up being super relevant in the late game, as can the fact that it doesn't destroy land creatures.
Hope you enjoy the deck, will be updating as I read further. Let me know what you think, any suggestions would be great!
